Bring ownership records, funding history, the purchase or formation agreement, and the provisions governing any loan or escrow arrangement, along with operational evidence explaining what the enterprise will actually do.
Expose conditions before they become commitments
Ask who controls the funds and what happens if a condition fails. Identify the actual collateral rather than treating all borrowing alike. If the agreement changes, provide the revised version and explain the difference, and coordinate immigration and transaction advice before signing or paying anything non-refundable.
Gather passports establishing the investor’s treaty citizenship, a complete ownership ledger showing at least 50 percent treaty-national ownership, and the agreements demonstrating development-and-direction control. Trace each investment amount from its origin through transfers, escrow, and final use. Capital must be at risk and irrevocably committed; the investor may already have invested or be actively in the process of investing. Read financing documents for collateral and repayment conditions, and align formation, lease, purchase, licensing, and operating evidence. The frequent mistake is submitting a bank balance or unsigned purchase draft as though availability equals commitment.
Hypothetical example: an Ottawa pastry chef plans to purchase an American artisan bakery using savings, a personally secured loan, and escrow conditioned only on E-2 approval. The review should follow every deposit into escrow, inspect the loan security, confirm Canadian citizenship and treaty ownership, and explain the chef’s operational control. Equipment schedules, a signed lease, vendor correspondence, and the purchase agreement can show the planned active enterprise. Any refund clause or last-minute contract amendment must be disclosed accurately rather than summarized as money spent.